Extreme Rules (2018)
Extreme Rules (2018) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on July 15, 2018 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was the tenth event under the Extreme Rules chronology. The card consisted of twelve matches, including two on the pre-show. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler retained the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Seth Rollins 5–4 in an Iron Man match that went into sudden death overtime. This was the first time that an Intercontinental Championship match was the main event of a WWE pay-per-view since Backlash in 2001. In the penultimate match, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Rusev. On the undercard, Alexa Bliss retained the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax in an Extreme Rules match, Bobby Lashley defeated Roman Reigns, and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship. Storylines The card consisted of twelve matches, including two on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. Raw At Money in the Bank, Alexa Bliss won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match. Later in the night, she interrupted the Raw Women's Championship match between Ronda Rousey and champion Nia Jax, causing a disqualification, and cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to win the championship. The following night on Raw, Jax invoked her championship rematch clause for Extreme Rules. Rousey was also suspended for 30 days as she attacked Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, who was trying to break up the fight between Rousey and Bliss. On the July 2 episode of Raw, the match at Extreme Rules was made an Extreme Rules match, and Rousey stated her intentions to be in the front row for the match. On the June 4 episode of Raw, The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) won a tag team battle royal to earn the right to face Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for the Raw Tag Team Championship by last eliminating Heath Slater and Rhyno. On the June 25 episode of Raw, Axel defeated Hardy and the tag team title match was scheduled for Extreme Rules. On the June 18 episode of Raw, Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins to win his sixth Intercontinental Championship after Drew McIntyre distracted Rollins. The following week, Rollins won a rematch for the title by disqualification after McIntyre interfered on Ziggler's behalf. On July 2, a 30-minute Iron Man match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules. On the June 18 edition of Raw, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled a multi-man match for Extreme Rules, with the winner facing Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns, claiming to be the "uncrowned champion" due to the controversial finish of his championship match at Greatest Royal Rumble, and Bobby Lashley, claiming to be the only person who could legitimately match Lesnar, were the first two participants confirmed for the match. The following week, however, the match was canceled over contract disputes with Lesnar. Reigns and Lashley wanted to face each other, but Angle instead had them team up against The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). Reigns and Lashley lost and in a rematch the following week, Reigns refused to tag in Lashley and Lashley abandoned Reigns to a post-match beat down by The Revival. A match between Lashley and Reigns was scheduled for Extreme Rules. At Money in the Bank, Braun Strowman won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. During the match Strowman threw fellow competitor Kevin Owens off a ladder through two tables. The next night on Raw, Owens attempted to befriend Strowman by saying he would protect him now that he had the contract. Strowman attempted a powerslam on Owens but Owens escaped. Over the next few weeks, Strowman continuously embarrassed Owens including flipping his car over in the parking lot, locking him inside a portable toilet and spraying him in the face with air freshener. Eventually, a Steel Cage match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules. SmackDown At Money in the Bank, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match. On the following episode of SmackDown, Rusev won a gauntlet match also involving The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, and Big E to earn a title opportunity at Extreme Rules. Prior to the gauntlet match, Daniel Bryan had a stare down with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan). During the gauntlet match, The Bludgeon Brothers attacked Bryan, allowing Miz to eliminate Bryan. On the June 26 episode of SmackDown, Kane returned to save Bryan from a post-match assault from The Bludgeon Brothers, reuniting Team Hell No. SmackDown General Manager Paige then scheduled Team Hell No to face The Bludgeon Brothers for the tag titles at Extreme Rules. At Money in the Bank, Carmella retained the SmackDown Women's Championship by defeating Asuka with the help of the returning James Ellsworth. On the following episode of SmackDown, Carmella attacked Asuka after a distraction by Ellsworth. On the June 26 episode of SmackDown, General Manager Paige scheduled a rematch for the title at Extreme Rules. Aftermath Raw At Extreme Rules, General Manager Kurt Angle gave Brock Lesnar an ultimatum: show up on Raw the next night or agree to the terms of his next title defense, or he would be stripped of the Universal Championship. On Raw, Brock Lesnar was absent and as Angle was about to strip him of the title, he was interrupted by Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman, who, on Lesnar's behalf, agreed that Lesnar would defend the championship at SummerSlam. Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns won their respective triple threat matches to face each other the following week to determine Lesnar's challenger at SummerSlam. Also on Raw, Rousey, who just had two days left on her 30-day suspension, appeared and attacked Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. After they were separated, Kurt Angle extended Rousey's suspension by one week and said that as long as she does not break her suspension, she would receive a Raw Women's Championship match against Bliss at SummerSlam. SmackDown During SmackDown Live, Ellsworth interrupted a SummerSlam WWE Championship contract signing between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, during which Ellsworth got fired after he insulted General Manager Paige. One month later Charlotte Flair would receive a SmackDown Women's Championship match against Carmella and Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Extreme Rules Category:Extreme Rules PPV Category:Pay-Per-Views